An American man who lived with a genetically modified pig kidney for a record 271 days has had the organ removed and will return to dialysis, reports CNN.
Tim Andrews (67) of New Hampshire received the transplant in January, but surgeons at Mass General Brigham removed the organ last week because of a decline in kidney function.
He was the fourth living patient in the US to get a kidney transplant from a pig that had been genetically modified to help prevent organ rejection and other complications.
Andrews, who had had diabetes since the 1990s, learned about three years ago that he had end-stage kidney disease. Dialysis saved his life, but the process was draining: he was connected to the machines for six hours, three days a week. On days off, he’d sleep. By the time he woke up, he’d have to start the process all over again.
Andrews knew the risks of xenotransplantation but said that if it could keep him off dialysis and help other people with kidney problems, it was worth it.
He called the transplant “a miracle”, and said he had been slowly rebuilding his life.
In a statement last week, Mass General Brigham called Andrews a “selfless medical pioneer and an inspiration to patients with kidney failure around the world”.
Andrews posted on the weekend that it had been “a punishing journey filled with unknowns and surprises”. He added that there were experimental drugs with some unexpected side effects, but for the nine months he was able to live with the pig kidney, he said, “I am proud of everything we discovered, learned and experienced.”
Andrews also expressed his gratitude to Wilma, the pig who gave him the time off from dialysis, calling her “my hero”.
As Andrews resumes dialysis, he will remain on the waiting list for a human kidney transplant. More than 170m people are registered organ donors, according to the Organ Donor Foundation, but nearly 90 000 people are waiting for a kidney in the US.
In March 2024, Richard Slayman became the first patient to get a pig kidney in the US. He died two months later from causes not related to the transplant. The second, Lisa Pisano, received a mechanical heart pump in addition to the pig kidney in April 2024.
The organ failed due to limited blood flow and was removed the next month, and she died in July 2024.
In November 2024, doctors at NYU gave 53-year-old Towana Looney a genetically modified pig kidney that functioned for four months and nine days. They had to remove it in April when her immune system started to reject it.
In June, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital performed another experimental pig kidney transplant, that one with 54-year-old patient Bill Stewart.
His blood type made it harder to find a human match. The transplant went so well that Stewart was able to go home and go back to work. In September, Steward said his energy wasn’t where he wanted it to be, but he knew that “there’s hopefully a bright future ahead”.
Mass General Brigham said it will do another pig-to-human kidney transplant later this year.
CNN article – Pig kidney removed from New Hampshire man after a record 271 days (Open access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
US pig kidney man ‘doing well’ as transplant trials due to start
Transplant doctors remove pig kidney from patient after four months